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THOMPSON, Royal W.,
Attorney.
Royal Windford Thompson, LL. M.,
secretary in Washington, during their
terms, to two former United States Sena-
tors from Connecticut, and at present a
prominent member of the legal bar of
Hartford county, is a representative son
of Connecticut, the State where so many
have by individual effort risen to noteworthy
place in industrial and profes-
sional life. Attorney Thompson's advancement
to creditable place among the
successful lawyers of the capital city of
Connecticut is worthy of extended refer-
ence in this work. He was born in Elling-
ton. Tolland county, Connecticut, the son
of the Hon. John and Amanda J. (Bancroft)
Thompson, and belongs to a family
which for six generations has been
resident within the State, and for the
whole of that period proprietors of landed
estate in the vicinity of East Windsor.
The Thompson family is of Scottish
origin. William and Margaret Thomp-
son crossed from Scotland to Ireland in
1716, with their nine children. There
William Thompson, in 1718, died, and his
widow and children resumed the journey
to America, reaching a point in New Eng-
land in that year. The family located in
East Windsor, Connecticut, on land
where succeeding generations of Thomp-
sons were destined to live. The direct
line from William to Royal W. Thompson
is through : Samuel, son of William
and Margaret ;
;
John James
and the Hon. John, father of Royal W.
John Thompson, grandfather, was a wellknown
agriculturist of Ellington, Tol-
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
McK. ; John ;
land county, Connecticut. He married
Anna E. Ellsworth, daughter of Benjamin
Ellsworth, and of their nine children
John was eighth born.
The Hon. John Thompson was born
175
January 11, 1840, and died April 4, 1917.
He was educated in the district and high
schools of his native place, Ellington, and
when he reached his majority took charge
of the ancestral homestead. The out-
break of Civil War influenced him, so
that on August 25, 1862, he enlisted,
becoming a member of Company F.,
Twenty-fifth Connecticut Volunteer In-
fantry. He rose to the rank of first cor-
poral, but a wound received during the
Battle of Irish Bend, Louisana, on April
14, 1863, ended his military career, he
being honorably discharged for disability
at Hartford, Connecticut, on August
26, 1863, after treatment at field hospitals,
and at the Institute Hospital in New
Orleans, had rendered him reasonably fit
for civilian occupations again. Returning
then to his home, he thereafter through-
out his life applied himself to the affairs
of the family estate, which then was a
valuable holding of about two hundred
acres extending into the township of East
Windsor. He was esteemed in his community,
and took much interest in the
public affairs of the neighborhood. For
many years he was president of the El-
lington Creamery, and was officially con-
nected with other enterprises, including
directorship of the Patron's Mutual Fire
Insurance Company for Tolland county.
The respect in which he was held in the
community manifested itself in his preferment
to many public offices. Politi-
cally, he was an enthusiastic and active
member of the Republican party, and on
the Republican ticket he was, in 1885,
elected to the State House of Representa-
tives by the voters of his home district.
His legislative record was good, and he
was once again elected, in 1895. Two
years later, he became county commis-
sioner. Among the other public offices
he held were: Selectman, several terms;
member of State Board of Agriculture,